


What do you do when someone important dies?

by SoulfulyWicked



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst and Humor, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Ben Hargreeves is Dead, Good Brother Ben Hargreeves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-13
Updated: 2019-04-13
Packaged: 2020-01-12 21:17:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18454811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoulfulyWicked/pseuds/SoulfulyWicked
Summary: Klaus sees Ben after it happens. Klaus doesn’t know what to say. He's always hated his power.





	What do you do when someone important dies?

The first time Klaus sees him after it's happened he's drunk off his ass and has just taken some kind of magic pill that made him feel like he was both floating and falling. He felt great. 

 

“Come on, man, get up.”

 

Klaus laughs, because of course Ben is here to kill his mood. He stares at him, in all his judgy-ness and Klaus figures its only a matter of time before he drags him up and takes him back to the Academy. He’s run away again and he really doesn’t want to go back. 

 

“I’m good here.” He says, throwing his arms open and gesturing to the alleyway like it’s some grand thing. 

 

Ben wrinkles his nose at him and Klaus doesn’t blame him. He’s sure he smells like a liquor store. And maybe dog piss, he decides as he takes a big whiff of himself. Maybe it is time to go home...or well, he could also go to that friend’s house. That sounds much better than going home to see dear ol’ dad.

 

“Why are you even here? How’s you find me?” He says and he stands up. Everything spins for a moment and he falls against the wall. Ben watches all this with an expression that he can’t describe and he realizes something terrible must of happened.

 

“Is it Mom?”

 

Ben shakes his head and clenches his fists. 

 

“Diego then? I told him the last time I saw him he was going to get into some trouble. We’re not kids anymore, hurting us doesn't make bad guys feel bad anymore.” Klaus laughs miserably and starts walking on shaking legs back home. Ben follows him.

 

“It’s not Diego...He’s fine.”

 

Klaus nods at that and turns left rather than right. 

 

“Where are you going, home is that way Klaus.”

 

Klaus brushes off his comment with a shake of his hand. “I told you guys, this time it was for real. The only way I’d go back is dead in a body bag.” He grins.

 

Ben’s expression falls and Klaus stops to stare at him for a  moment. His brother looks weird and for the life of him he can’t figure it out. Something has changed and while Ben was never the happiest, hell none of them were what you would describe as happy (except maybe Allison who was well on her way to eternal stardom), but he looked awful. And that’s saying something considering he was just laying on his ass in a random street alley. 

 

“How’d you find me?”

 

Ben doesn't say anything and Klaus sighs.

 

“Fine. Keep your secrets.”

 

They arrive at the building which isn't all too special and he shoves his way indoors. He climbs three flights of stairs too many because the building has had a broken elevator since before his friend moved or so he was told. He smiles when he arrives at the apartment, realizing she’s left the key for him again when he reaches up and snatches it from the frame of the door.

 

“I didn’t know you could afford an apartment.” Ben snipes, peering around at his surroundings. 

 

Klaus grins and throws the door open. “I can’t.”

 

Ben sputters, probably thinking he’s done something crazy like break into a random apartment but he ignores him. He calls out to his friend despite the fact that it’s around three a.m or so he thought at least. Klaus has never been one to keep track of time. He finds a note, which simply says  _ ‘Out to feed the faeries.’  _ He’s not entirely sure what she means by that but he shrugs because who is he to judge other people’s eccentricities. She’s an artist, and seeing as all she charges him for her couch is some light cleaning and modeling he’ll accept it all in stride. 

 

“Who’s place is this!? Klaus. Klaus, answer me.”

 

Klaus groans and whirls around to face his brother. “A friend’s. Now, you’ve thoroughly killed my buzz. I’m going to shower.”

 

He doesn't give him a chance to argue anymore and slips into his friend’s room and snatches one of her pretty nightgowns and goes into her bathroom. Her body wash lays on the floor of the shower, leaking so he’s extra careful stepping in after he puts the water on. It’s dreadfully cold and he yelps loudly as the spray hits his skin. It takes a moment too long for it to warm up but he sighs and leans into it when he does. He grabs the body wash and steals a generous amount and rubs it into his skin. 

Some time later, probably way too much time later if he’s honest, he emerges smelling of apples and something the bottle calls daydreams. He drys quickly and throws the nightgown on. It feels nice against his skin and when he wipes the mist off the mirror hanging behind the door he admits he looks nice. He tries to mimic the towel hat he’s seen his friend do and finally exits.

 

Klaus fully expects for Ben to have disappeared but he’s still there on the couch, leaning back with his hands over his eyes. Mischievously, he decides he should take some revenge against him for ruining his high. 

 

Faster than Ben can register he’s yelling and throwing himself at his brother. He fully expects to crash into him with all sorts of limbs hitting against each other and prays that he can land well enough that he doesn’t hit his pride.    
  


Except that’s not at all what happens. 

 

No, instead of landing on top of his brother he lands right  _ through  _ him.

 

Klaus blinks having sat up in the shock of it all and stares at Ben,who has gone all fuzzy and not solid looking. He immediately starts screaming, horrified. 

 

“Klaus! Klaus, calm down please.”

 

Except he can’t because yeah, Klaus hasn’t seen a ghost in a while but he knows what happens when one has tried to touch him and right now that’s happening and all he wanted to do was crush his brother. He takes a lungful of air and opens his mouth to scream again because he’s absolutely lost it and he doesn't want to stop making noise because if he does then it means he’s going to have to come to terms with this. 

 

“ **Klaus.** ”

 

He freezes. 

 

“Klaus, please stop yelling.” Ben leans down to meet his eyes and Klaus raises a hand because he doesnt want to believe it. 

 

Ben closes his eyes, sorrow taking hold as Klaus’ hand passes through him. 

 

“You're-”

 

“I know.” Ben says as Klaus snatches his hand back and places it on his mouth, grief-stricken. 

 

Klaus doesn’t know what to say because truthfully this has always been his biggest nightmare. Having one of his siblings die and being the first to know. Not for the first time in his life he wishes he was like Vanya. Powerless. Anything would be better than knowing what happened to his brother after he died. He could at least pretend he’d gone to heaven, the angel that Ben was, he clearly deserved it. 

 

“How?” His voice breaks and he reaches out again only to pull back at the last second. 

 

He knows tears are welling up in his eyes and he thinks about wiping them away instead of letting them slide down his face but this is Ben. Ben who frankly, had seen him in worse states than just tears. Diego had always been the one to drag him back home but Ben took care of him. He understood more than the others how it felt to be scared of your own gift. 

 

“I don’t remember.” Ben looks away and Klaus thinks he might be lying, maybe to protect him, but he doesn’t push it. Just nods. 

 

“How long ago?”

 

Ben shrugs, “I don't know. I was...there...and now I’m with you.”

 

Klaus’ heart tightens and he feels like he’s gonna puke so he lays down on the couch, bare centimeters from Ben’s legs. He thinks of all the times Ben soothingly rubbed his hair and back when he felt like his entire stomach was trying to come out of his mouth and the tears start falling faster. Before he knows it he’s crying. The kind of crying that makes your body jerk and produces all these horrible sounds and he can’t stop. Through his tears he sees Ben move to sit on the floor in front of him and notices he’s crying too. 

 

“Klaus I’m sorry.”

 

He laughs, and chokes because he feels like he can’t breath. “You’re sorry? I should be the one saying that, you’re  **dead** .”

 

Ben winces and shakes his head. “I’m sorry because I came here. I didn’t mean to…”

 

Klaus smiles bitterly because of course fate was that cruel. To bring his brother to watch him try and kill himself with all his stupid drug use so that he wouldn’t see anymore ghosts. They brought him a ghost he wouldn’t want to send away. 

“Ben?”

 

He moves closer and Klaus thinks about the last time he had seen Ben. Alive that is. They had fought, terribly. He had found his stash and had told him he was wasting his life away. He’d give anything to go back to that moment, if only to hug him instead of punching him.Ben eyes him, expectantly, waiting. Klaus thinks that maybe that's all that's left for his brother now. Waiting. Maybe, he’d be willing to wait with him, instead of flying off to who knows where.

 

“Will you stay with me?”Klaus asks.

 

Ben blinks before he gives him a rueful grin. “Last time you couldn't wait to get rid of me. You said I nag too much.”

 

Klaus smiles because of course pettiness runs in their blood, regardless of whether they’re related by it or not. 

 

“You still do.”

 

Ben laughs and then so does Klaus, a real one. 

 

“And now, you won’t be able to get rid of me.”

 

Klaus smiles and there are still tears on his face and his heart still hurts but at least he still has his brother. 

 

“Promise?”

**Author's Note:**

> Leave Kudos/comment if it hurt you to read it as much as it hurt me to write it.


End file.
